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2015 Olga G. Nalbandov Lecture Fund Awards Announced

2015 Olga G. Nalbandov Lecture Fund Awards Announced

Three teams have been awarded Olga G. Nalbandov Lecture Funds, a program that provides support to enrich the campus intellectual environment in the life sciences. The awards are intended to enable public lectures or symposia on current topics of interest in the fields of biological and biochemical sciences. Lectures may be stand-alone events or part of a larger conference or symposium.

“Since 1996, Nalbandov funding has enabled provocative discussions that reflect the breadth of study in the life sciences,” said Peter Schiffer, Vice Chancellor for Research at the Unviersity of Illinois. “The 2015 awardees are no exception.”

Funded proposals include:

“Looking in the Right Direction: Carl Woese and the New Biology,” a symposium that explored the legacy of the legendary Illinois scientist Carl Woese, who revolutionized the study of evolution and articulated a third branch of the tree of life, the archaea.
Institute for Genomic Biology, Nick Vasi, PI; $19,000

“Plants In Silico: Towards Realizing the Opportunity,” a symposium that will explore the intersection of the life sciences and computational sciences. This is an emerging area of research and presents an opportunity to develop new systems to model plant structure and behavior, work that has implications for plant breeding and engineering and evolving understanding of plant response to climate change.
Plant Biology, Steve Long, PI; $20,000

“Illinois Symposium for Reproductive Science,” an event that provides an opportunity to showcase the state’s expertise in the reproductive sciences and facilitates the career development of the next generation of the state’s reproductive scientists.
Animal Sciences, Romana Nowak, PI; $12,500

Nalbandov awards are selected and evaluated by a five-member committee appointed by the Chancellor from among heads of the departments in the School of Life Sciences, the School of Chemical Sciences, and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research manages the programs.

Committee members include:

May Berenbaum, Entomology

German Bollero, Crop Sciences

John Cronan, Microbiology

Paul Kenis, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Sharon Nickols-Richardson, Food Science and Human Nutrition

The next call for proposals will happen in summer 2017.

Andrew and Olga Nalbandov were both highly regarded researchers in reproductive physiology. Andrew joined the faculty in 1940 and was Professor of Animal Physiology and Zoology at the time of his retirement in 1970. Olga worked as a Research Associate from 1959-1987. Olga was also an alumnae of the University (Ph.D., Chemistry, 1946).